UFC fighter Michael Chandler recently appeared on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet, for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling and WWE.
During the discussion, Chandler commented on his WWE RAW promo last year and how that came about, For those unaware, Michael Chandler appeared on an episode of WWE Raw in February 2024 and cut a passionate promo, calling out Conor McGregor. Chandler also opened up about his interest in pursuing a pro wrestling career. Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview
On whether his promo on WWE RAW was pre-planned
“No. Well, so I asked for it.”
On how his promo came into being
Chandler revealed that he sought permission to cut a promo on WWE RAW, and his wish was eventually approved by WWE President Nick Khan. “They knew [the promo] was gonna happen, because I wanted to ask for permission. Once again, going back to, I’m not going to show up to WWE and make it about me. So I asked; I forget who I was sitting with. But they asked, and it went up to Nick [Khan], went up the flagpole to Nick, to be like, ‘Hey, we’re going to introduce Chandler.’ But I was like, ‘Well, why don’t you just give me the microphone? And they were like, ‘You want the microphone?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, I want the microphone.’ And they were like, ‘Hold on.’ Everyone’s got the earpieces; one of the production people wound it up the flagpole to Nick, and Nick’s like, ‘Yeah, give him the microphone.’ But then they did say, ‘Hey, make sure you do not rip the microphone out of her hand; they will freaking be mad at you if you do that.’”
“I’m like, ‘Okay, I’ll take it.’ But it was a little bit of a passionate grab. But it wasn’t like, ‘Give me that thing!’ Then it was during the time; obviously, the UFC was just in Anaheim the night before. And yeah, it was during the time when we were kind of still working on when I am going to fight Conor and all that stuff. And yeah, just ripped a promo, jumped up on the seats. And then, like, afterwards I’m off camera, and then Pat McAfee is, like, ‘Michael Chandler just ripped his shirt off…’ because I ripped my shirt off, and I was just flexing in there, and the whole crowd is going crazy.”
“It had, like, freaking 60 million views in, like, 24 hours. It was cool; it was fun. And that’s my environment, man. I love entertaining people. I love to be around people, and just say it’s kind of weird, because I don’t love being the center of attention, but when it’s time and that, lights come on and it’s my moment, I’m there, man, and I turn it on and just have fun with it and enjoy it. And I feel like that’s what I’ve always done with my fight career, too. It’s like wins and losses are very important, but my number one goal is always to make people feel something. If you’re buying a pay-per-view, if you worked a blue-collar 40-hour workweek this week, if you just took your work boots off, if you invited some buddies over, and if you’re going to watch me fight. I’m going to pour every single ounce of myself into that performance.”
“I think you don’t see that with certain guys and gals in the sport, it becomes too much of a ‘Well, I’m too afraid to lose, so therefore, I’m not gonna put myself out there. I’m not gonna take this. I’ve made so many ill-advised decisions in there, like, I’m gonna do this and see what happens. I don’t care if something bad happens; I’m just gonna go ahead and do it. And I think that’s why I’ve been known as one of the most, if not the most, entertaining fighters in the UFC because I care about the wins and losses, but I also care about fulfilling my passion and what I’m doing.”
“Sometimes focusing so much on the technique and the game plan and all that stuff can just pull away the actual carnal nature, the pure nature of ‘I’m fighting you right now in hand-to-hand combat,’ instead of thinking, ‘Well, I don’t want to lose because I got this belt, or lose because of the world ranking, or I don’t want to lose because of for losses sake. It’s like the Man in the Arena: if you’re going to fail, fail while daring greatly, and you’re out there, and I’m living my passion, and I love [that] God created me for hand-to-hand combat, in the wrestling mats, maybe in the WWE ring after fighting, but right now in the UFC.”
On whether he’d love to pursue pro wrestling in the future:
“I think it intrigues me. I think it’s a lot of fun. I do think I would enjoy it. I think there would be some intrigue and interest on both sides. Spending some time with Sheamus and a couple of other friends I have. Diamond Dallas Page has been a friend of mine for a very, very long time also. What’s really cool about him too, which would be kind of similar to my story, because he always said, ‘My career didn’t take off till I was 40,’ because he came in as a manager. I think that’s one of the cooler things about the sport as well,” he said.
“It’s like a lot of mature men; the sport of mixed martial arts is kind of a younger man’s game, but not really. We can get into that a little bit. I think young is awesome, and your body feels great, but you haven’t quite matured enough to get to that—not old man strength, but kind of that maturity of your body, and I think you don’t really hit that until 32-33, so I’m just a fan of the sport. Love to go to the live events, obviously, and love to watch it on TV. Obviously, now WWE is now on ESPN at the time of this. So it’s pretty cool, man, a lot of fun to watch.”
